ArchaicSmiles

Holly Morningstar
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Before the 50 Shades of Gray series gained popularity, my “No Evil” series of colored pencil paintings was often viewed as highly offensive and immoral in the state of Alabama (the response at various artist alleys in the US, however, was much more accepting).

Oddly enough, the more “mainstream” the fetish elements became, the more palatable the artwork…and the more open people were to talking about how they found those elements sexy.  The first time someone came up to me and called my series the “50 Shades” series, I was really taken off guard. They were enjoying my work, but I was mildly disappointed they still took it at face value. All they were seeing were the sexy elements…which were all of a sudden okay to see.

While I sometimes incorporate fetish-related elements into my work, the message behind these paintings (and all of my work) can be read so many different ways. The most important message for me has always been about freedom, which is a topic I put into a lot of my pieces. There is freedom to be found in surrender. Sometimes, the things we carry are too heavy. What happens when we just let go and hand our burdens over?

The result can be something beautiful, but you have to be willing to let yourself experience the beauty.

It’s all about love, you guys :)

Holly Morningstar
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What I’ve been up to lately! I’ve been terrible about keeping up with the blogging…I fully admit to posting on Twitter more frequently. However, it’s my goal for 2014 to be a more consistent blogger :)

Anyway, starting from top to bottom:

Magic Lanterns, watercolor, 22"x30" – original $1500

Munchkins, watercolor, 18"x24" – original unavailable

Doomsday, watercolor,  – original $1500
“Doomsday” is actually 2 paintings (one of the Doctor, and one of Rose) that have been framed separately. Each is 11"x30" not including frame and mat size.

Light in the Dark, watercolor, 13"x19" – original unavailable
I felt so many feels while I was working on this! FFIV is the first RPG I remember getting sucked into, and that was when I was 6 or 7. While I was painting it, I listened to the game soundtrack and just had a great nostalgia-filled time. I will love Cecil and Rosa forever!

Holly Morningstar
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“Magic Lanterns” initial sketch and how it’s turning out so far as a watercolor painting.  It has a long way to go, but has been so much fun so far. Just hate the cloudiness of the cellphone pics. So many vibrant colors that are present in the painting are missing in this photo :(

Holly Morningstar
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An example of how I put my watercolor paintings together. I use Derwent watercolor pencils, Derwent Inktense pencils, Prismacolor watercolor pencils, and Holbein watercolor tubes.  In this piece, I also used some acrylic paint at the end (mainly white).

Holly Morningstar
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I started sketching what will eventually be a watercolor piece at my artist alley table at AWA over the weekend! It was by far my favorite convention I’ve done to date, and I hope to see everyone again next year!